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Putting Leigh in SL is the biggest mistake RL ever made (Merged threads)


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40 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

That was a fun read especially the parts mentioning production of players. 
 

Halifax has not had a SL team in over 15 years but the area of Calderdale still produces more SL players than the whole of France. 😂

Not wanting to split hairs but Calderdale is a fairly short drive from about 4 SL clubs. Five before the Bulls self destructed and about an hour from Salford and Wigan. It is hardly Dick Wittington stuff for a local player to sign with a regional SL club.

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11 minutes ago, Eddie said:

You think Toulouse would sell out the Wallon for a league game against Catalans? 

As much as Saints would sell out Wigan and Warrington these days. Sadly neither Saints or Warrington can put the house full signs up anymore.

TO v Catalans first ever French SL derby would push the 19k capacity for sure. Catalans have got five figures for a SL home game at Wallon. Perpignan is 2 hours from Toulouse too.

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4 hours ago, The Daddy said:

I just want to understand the logic for putting Leigh in SL coz I still don't understand. 

Toulouse has just signed a 9 year deal with Stade Toulousain that not just allows them to play at the iconic ground but gives them a major presence at the complex. In addition to that they now have backing from the various local authorities which in France is significant. With the partnerships they have in place  I'm confident in saying that over the next few years Toulouse will quickly become one of the biggest clubs in Europe.

The commercial partnerships that Toulouse have are on a different scale to Leigh's and it gives the RL exposure to the 4th biggest city in France that has a population in the  metropolitan area of over 1.3 million, plus many more across the South West region. It would have increased the competition's presence in France and the number of professional players which allows the France national team to become more and more competitive and create a natural rival for England on its doorstep, that has so many commercial benefits in itself to UK RL. 

We were told over and over that they had an 'oven baked squad' ready to compete. If that's the case why are they now loaning a player from another SL club? On paper, their squad wasn't any better than Toulouse's and they finished below them in the league table in recent seasons.

Apparently the bids were assessed by an 'independent panel of experts' yet there has been no explanation into the reasoning behind the decision. 

To top it all off the majority of people in this country don't even know where Leigh is and thought that the parish of Leigh-on-Sea in Essex had entered a team into SL.

It was a terrible decision which says so much about the mindset of people running the sport here. It's several months on and I'm still disgusted 

IF Leigh beat the Castleford Tigers this evening it will give the whole club a boost and then perhaps they won't be favourites for relegation, which they are at the moment

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31 minutes ago, Scubby said:

As much as Saints would sell out Wigan and Warrington these days. Sadly neither Saints or Warrington can put the house full signs up anymore.

TO v Catalans first ever French SL derby would push the 19k capacity for sure. Catalans have got five figures for a SL home game at Wallon. Perpignan is 2 hours from Toulouse too.

I think they'd sell the first few out for sure. Plenty of union fans would be interested in going too

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2 minutes ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

In fairness Manfred gets more stick for his style of content deluvery

Personally I love it's uniqueness and the response he always gets

I say 'he' but he is of course not actually a person though 

What is he the a robot?

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33 minutes ago, Scubby said:

As much as Saints would sell out Wigan and Warrington these days. Sadly neither Saints or Warrington can put the house full signs up anymore.

TO v Catalans first ever French SL derby would push the 19k capacity for sure. Catalans have got five figures for a SL home game at Wallon. Perpignan is 2 hours from Toulouse too.

I don’t know where the 18,000 additional fans would come from, certainly not from Perpignan, but of course it would be great if I’m wrong and they did get 19k through the gate. 

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2 minutes ago, Eddie said:

I don’t know where the 18,000 additional fans would come from, certainly not from Perpignan, but of course it would be great if I’m wrong and they did get 19k through the gate. 

Catalans held a SL game there in Toulouse a few years ago. It got over 10,000 at Wallon. There is an appetite for top class sport in France. Like anywhere, there is less of an appetite for a game against Dewsbury (sorry just off the top of my head) in the lower leagues.

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45 minutes ago, Scubby said:

It is hardly Dick Wittington stuff for a local player to sign with a regional SL club.

Are you new to RL?

I can confirm 30+ less sales for Scotland vs Italy at Workington, after this afternoons test purchase for the Tonga match, £7.50 is extremely reasonable, however a £2.50 'delivery' fee for a walk in purchase is beyond taking the mickey, good luck with that, it's cheaper on the telly.

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Adding Leigh to SL made sense now, but I do think there’ll come a point soon when we should see what kind of commercial advantage can be gained by having two French clubs in the northern hemisphere club top flight.

The reason for me is that if we see the England national side and international rugby league as growth opportunities then we need as stronger opposition in the northern hemisphere as we can get for England to test themselves against regularly.

France look to have more potential than Wales, Scotland or Ireland as things stand on this basis.  Also tying in a French club boom to possible future French govt investment in a French hosted World Cup makes strategic sense.

Basically I’m saying that to help ourselves and compete with the Southern Hemisphere, we need to help the French help themselves (while not forgetting the others of course).

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3 hours ago, Spidey said:

Talk about over dramatic. Leigh haven’t played any of their relegation rivals yet.  I don’t think it’d do SL any harm them replacing Wakey, Hull KR or Salford for instance

I wouldn’t lump Hull KR or Salford in with Wakey. HKR are well supported and have some good ideas to build (listen to this week’s By the Balls Podcast for info) and Salford have made two finals in two seasons. I don’t think SL would miss Wakey at all, though of course that is a rubbish thing to say when considering their fans, who while limited in number are as passionate as any, and have to watch the game from a shed. 

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1 minute ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Adding Leigh to SL made sense now, but I do think there’ll come a point soon when we should see what kind of commercial advantage can be gained by having two French clubs in the northern hemisphere club top flight.

The reason for me is that if we see the England national side and international rugby league as growth opportunities then we need as stronger opposition in the northern hemisphere as we can get for England to test themselves against regularly.

France look to have more potential than Wales, Scotland or Ireland as things stand on this basis.  Also tying in a French club boom to possible future French govt investment in a French hosted World Cup makes strategic sense.

Basically I’m saying that to help ourselves and compete with the Southern Hemisphere, we need to help the French help themselves (while not forgetting the others of course).

Very good points there. A lot of people bemoaning French progress are the same ones that have enjoyed memorable summer trips to France. It also provides another opportunity for quality English players to enjoy a change of scenery without having to go to the NRL. Variety is the spice and all that.

If French players are good enough they will break through. If not, they too have the opportunity to sample life playing in England. We are working with a tiny footprint and pool of talent. 

Leigh was a short term fit this time. Beyond this we have to grow or the commercial income will keep shrinking and it will be the same mice fighting over the ever dwindling cheese.

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1 hour ago, Scubby said:

As much as Saints would sell out Wigan and Warrington these days. Sadly neither Saints or Warrington can put the house full signs up anymore.

 

Taking nothing away from the french element but the biggest draw against full houses is respective fixtures 

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6 minutes ago, Eddie said:

I wouldn’t lump Hull KR or Salford in with Wakey. HKR are well supported and have some good ideas to build (listen to this week’s By the Balls Podcast for info) and Salford have made two finals in two seasons. I don’t think SL would miss Wakey at all, though of course that is a rubbish thing to say when considering their fans, who while limited in number are as passionate as any, and have to watch the game from a shed. 

It's simply grouping the teams I feel are at risk of relegation as well as Leigh.... if Leigh start beating those teams then they edge closer to safety

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This is another Wide to West written all over it. Thousands of posts by over elusive expansionists with wrists the size of Popeye every time Leigh get stuffed !

Get this one saved Degsy and shove it up every one of their backsides !  Toulouse would obviously stuff Wigan, Warrington ,Cas etc.... and play in front of 45000 people every bloody home game etc...  blah blah !

Well done Leigh for sticking their necks out and give it a few more weeks, may be competitive enough to escape relegation !

It really is boring !

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1 minute ago, ELBOWSEYE said:

Taking nothing away from the french element but the biggest draw against full houses is respective fixtures 

I assume you meant repeat and yeah I agree totally. We need to make big games special. Potentially the crowdless first half of the season will have cut away at some of that repeat fixture fatigue

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19 minutes ago, Eddie said:

 I don’t think SL would miss Wakey at all, though of course that is a rubbish thing to say when considering their fans, who while limited in number are as passionate as any, and have to watch the game from a shed. 

I aways like the real Wakey fans - passionate and loud

There are some absolute b**** ends too. The sort who rip up seats at the ground then create a load of pointless aggro for a decent West London bar

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57 minutes ago, Scubby said:

Catalans held a SL game there in Toulouse a few years ago. It got over 10,000 at Wallon. There is an appetite for top class sport in France. Like anywhere, there is less of an appetite for a game against Dewsbury (sorry just off the top of my head) in the lower leagues.

When did they play in Toulouse - nothing showing on google ??

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22 minutes ago, Snowys Backside said:

may be competitive enough to escape relegation

Livin' the dream

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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24 minutes ago, Scubby said:

I assume you meant repeat and yeah I agree totally. We need to make big games special. Potentially the crowdless first half of the season will have cut away at some of that repeat fixture fatigue

Yes predictive text

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7 hours ago, The Daddy said:

I just want to understand the logic for putting Leigh in SL coz I still don't understand. 

Toulouse has just signed a 9 year deal with Stade Toulousain that not just allows them to play at the iconic ground but gives them a major presence at the complex. In addition to that they now have backing from the various local authorities which in France is significant. With the partnerships they have in place  I'm confident in saying that over the next few years Toulouse will quickly become one of the biggest clubs in Europe.

The commercial partnerships that Toulouse have are on a different scale to Leigh's and it gives the RL exposure to the 4th biggest city in France that has a population in the  metropolitan area of over 1.3 million, plus many more across the South West region. It would have increased the competition's presence in France and the number of professional players which allows the France national team to become more and more competitive and create a natural rival for England on its doorstep, that has so many commercial benefits in itself to UK RL. 

We were told over and over that they had an 'oven baked squad' ready to compete. If that's the case why are they now loaning a player from another SL club? On paper, their squad wasn't any better than Toulouse's and they finished below them in the league table in recent seasons.

Apparently the bids were assessed by an 'independent panel of experts' yet there has been no explanation into the reasoning behind the decision. 

To top it all off the majority of people in this country don't even know where Leigh is and thought that the parish of Leigh-on-Sea in Essex had entered a team into SL.

It was a terrible decision which says so much about the mindset of people running the sport here. It's several months on and I'm still disgusted 

Covid 

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